King’s Empire (Deluxe) is a variation of an old game format, but there are new elements that make it new and exciting. It is a build and battle type of game and if you are a fan of the genre, you will love it.

For some strange reason there are several variations of this game and I played King’s Empire (Deluxe) by Tap4Fun on the iPad, but there is also a King’s Empire by in the iOS App Store, and King Empire for Tango in the Google Play Store that look identical. It’s the Tap4Fun game that I have been playing.

You start off with a small city consisting of a castle, a half built wall around it, and a lot of empty space. Tap the empty spaces and you can build a farm to produce food, a lumber mill to produce wood, a quarry to produce wood, and an iron mine to produce iron.

These are four basic resources you need to build your city. The idea is to produce sufficient resources to construct all the buildings and then to upgrade them level by level.

King’s Empire always goes a bit further than similar games and you build living quarters where the villagers live. It can be upgraded through many levels and this produces more villagers.

You can assign villagers to resources like the farm, quarry, iron mine and lumber mill, and the more you assign, the faster they produce their goods. If you are short of one resource, you can reassign workers from elsewhere, such as from the farm to the quarry if you are short of stone.

Villagers without work produce gold, so it is useful to have some unemployed. Managing the workforce adds a bit of depth to the game. A market enables you to sell resources that are plentiful and to buy those you are short of.

Barracks can be built and you can train swordsmen, scouts, crossbow archers, squires, Templars and so on. Once again there is a bit more to this than some games and you can choose the speed and resources required. Train you soldiers slowly and fewer resources are required, but when you need them fast, you can expend more resources.

Each type of soldier has difference strengths and weaknesses, so you can’t focus on one type. You need to balance the attributes.

Once you have a small army you can switch to the map mode and locate targets to attack. There are the usual types and you can occupy resources like mines, quarries and farms. These increase the rate at which resources are acquired.

There are game-controlled camps like Robbers, and you can attack them and steal their resources. There are also other players. You are protected for the first couple of days, but then you are free to attack others and they can attack you.

Alliances can be formed with others for protection and friendship – there is an in-game email system and chat facility. The usual shenanigans go on with alliances and you can get kicked out, alliances can wage wars or agree on peace, and so on. They are ranked and it is competitive.

A you progress through the game, upgrading buildings and training soldiers takes longer and requires more resources. Some free gifts are available like speedups and resource bundles, and there are many ways to spend real money in order to progress faster.

Playing for free is slower, but still fun. After a week playing, there is still plenty to do without spending money, but the option is there if you are impatient.

Some aspects of the game are confusing and it isn’t perfect, but I like this sort of game and judging by the score in the Apple App Store, so do many other people.

Title: King’s Empire (Deluxe)Price: FreeSize: 47 MBiOS: 6.0 or laterVerdict: An entertaining and well designed build and battle game